An event of extraordinary scientific and ecological significance brings life back to the immense expanses of Central Asia. On August 22, 2026, a male Przewalski horse foal was born inside the Alibi Reintroduction Center, located in the heart of the Altyn Dala nature reserve. This is the first specimen to come to light in the wild in Kazakhstan for over two centuries. The little one is in excellent health and is constantly looked after by his mother, the mare Tessa, under the vigilant monitoring of the team of veterinarians operating in the facility.
Zorro’s legacy and the Return of the Wild Horses program
The birth of the little one represents a culmination full of meaning and emotion for the international Return of the Wild Horses program. The mother Tessa is part of the first group of specimens transferred to Kazakh territory in 2024 thanks to the direction of the Prague Zoo. The sire of the newborn was the stallion Zorro, who was also born in the Czech facility and reintroduced in the same echelon. Unfortunately, Zorro died last autumn due to a fatal fracture of his front leg, caused by the sudden subsidence of the ground above a marmot burrow. The appearance of the foal therefore constitutes a precious genetic inheritance left by the dominant male for the consolidation of the species.
The joint commitment to restore the Altyn Dala ecosystem
The rescue project makes use of cooperation between various international and local entities, including the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan led by the representative Vera Voronova, the organization Fauna & Flora and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research. The multi-year plan, set to continue until 2029, aims to establish a nucleus of at least 40 breeding individuals. The protected area of Altyn Dala, covering 750,000 square kilometers of wetlands and steppes, has already demonstrated the success of safeguarding the saiga antelope and is now aiming for the definitive repopulation of the large native herbivores.
The characteristics of the last wild horse and the challenges for the future
Known locally by the term kertagy, the Przewalski horse represents the only subspecies of horse ever domesticated by man, whose rock depictions date back over 20,000 years ago. Declared extinct in the wild in the late 1960s due to hunting and habitat destruction, the species has survived exclusively thanks to individuals kept in zoos. Now, the new born will have to learn to move independently in the steppe, following the rhythms of the herd and facing the rigors of the climate to guarantee a self-sufficient future for the new generation on Kazakh soil.
